Alexander Zverev to meet Stefanos Tsitsipas in Monte Carlo semi-finals after pair survive quarter-final scares
Novak Djokovic's conqueror, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain, reached his first Masters semi-final by beating American Taylor Fritz 2-6 6-4 6-3; he will face Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in Saturday's other semi after he edged past Hubert Hurkacz of Poland
Saturday 16 April 2022 14:18, UK
Alexander Zverev survived a first-set blip to break Jannik Sinner's resilience and reach the semi-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters with an epic 5-7 6-3 7-6 (7-5) victory on Friday.
Sinner overcame an early break to win the first set, and Zverev repaid the favour in the second. Zverev then fought back twice from a break down in the third set as it went to a tiebreaker, which he ultimately won 7-5.
Second-seeded Zverev will now meet defending-champion Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semi-finals on Saturday after the fifth-ranked Greek overcame Diego Schwartzman 6-2 6-7 (7-3) 6-4.
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Tsitsipas breezed through the first set, but squandered a 5-2 lead in the second. He then had to claw back from 4-0 down in the decider, winning six games on the trot as he eventually served out the match.
Zverev was handed a suspended eight-week ban from ATP-sanctioned events last month after being thrown out of the Acapulco Open for repeatedly hitting the umpire's chair with his racket at the end of a doubles match.
Zverev, quoted by the ATP Tour website, said: "It means a lot, definitely, especially (with) how this year has been going so far for me. I've lost long matches like that, so I'm happy I won this one."
Earlier, Novak Djokovic's conqueror, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain, reached his first Masters semi-final by beating American Taylor Fritz 2-6 6-4 6-3.
He will take on Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in Saturday's other semi after he edged past Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 6-4, 3-6, 7-6. The unseeded Bulgarian dropped two match points in the deciding set before taking it 7-2 in a tiebreaker.
Elsewhere, Brits Jamie Murray and Joe Salisbury both progressed to the men's doubles semi-finals with their respective partners.
Murray and India's Rohan Bopanna beat third seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 7-6 (10-8) 7-6 (10-8) to set up a last-four clash with top seeds Salisbury and America's Rajeev Ram, who won 6-4 6-3 against Tim Puetz and Michael Venus.
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